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capturing a working system image

#1 User is offline   sunnyimran 

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Posted 19 November 2012 - 02:42 AM

HI all

Since I am on learning, just a basic level question

For obtaining a customized installation image for win 7 x64

Can this be done ?


install a fresh copy on a specific hardware

install all drivers , set all customizations etc.

capture an image of this working system using IMAGEX or anything other

create an installation media using this image

burn to dvd

take this dvd to other systems of same hardware and install it so we get all settings and drivers already installed




actually I have tried rt7lite but I can't get it to install drivers like ATI and other small applications no success for me.

Trying DISM and other core utilites . windows updates are integrated OK with it. drivers are still not

I have got windows adk but do'nt have proper guides for it for above purpose.

please suggest

This post has been edited by sunnyimran: 19 November 2012 - 02:42 AM



#2 User is offline   Tripredacus 

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Posted 19 November 2012 - 09:57 AM

View Postsunnyimran, on 19 November 2012 - 02:42 AM, said:

install a fresh copy on a specific hardware

install all drivers , set all customizations etc.

capture an image of this working system using IMAGEX or anything other


This worked for XP and older OSes, not so much Vista and newer. You should install Windows 7 using an answer file and set it to boot into Audit Mode. Then you do your drivers and customizations for all users. Then you sysprep /generalize, THEN you can capture it, but using DISM and not Imagex. Imagex is deprecated by now.

#3 User is offline   gustavo21 

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Posted 14 December 2012 - 12:17 PM

Hello. First you have to customize your windows 7, in audit mode.

- Install new fresh OS.
- Execute C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep /audit
- When restart delete the user you had done (Only Administrator User left)
- Install Updates, customize, install drivers, etc.
- Generate an unattend.xml file for unattend the sysprep process and ser copyprofile=true. (if you need help with this just ask)
- Execute C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep /oobe /generalize /quit /unattend:unattend.xml
- Restart with WinPE
- Run Imagex /capture /compress fast c: c:\windows7.wim "Windows 7 Ultimate" (or whatever)

Then in other pc, run WinPE with the image you captured before

If you wanna clean all HDD and you have no data to keep.

Execute Diskpart
In diskpart type:
list disk (see what number of disk you wanna install)
sel disk 0 (if is 0)
clean
create part pri
sel part 1
assign letter C:
active
exit

when exit diskpart, execute:

format c: /q /y /fs:NTFS /v:Windows
Imagex /apply X:\windows7.wim 1 c: (X: is the drive you have the image. may be D, E, F etc)

When imagex ends:

C:\windows\system32\bcdboot c:\windows /s c:
exit

restart and wait for a full unattended and universal windows installation.

#4 User is offline   Tripredacus 

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Posted 18 December 2012 - 09:07 AM

View Postgustavo21, on 14 December 2012 - 12:17 PM, said:

when exit diskpart, execute:

format c: /q /y /fs:NTFS /v:Windows


Is there a specific reason why you don't use Diskpart to format the partition? :unsure:

#5 User is offline   WinOutreach4 

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Posted 20 December 2012 - 12:06 PM

In addition to the suggestions made above, you might want to consider using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). With MDT, you can have the ATI driver install after Windows is deployed as a 'post installation' task. In fact, there is no need to pre-load your image with drivers at all, since MDT can manage most driver installations automatically upon deployment by simply importing the drivers into MDT. If the ATI driver doesn't install properly in this manner, then the post installation task can be configured to install the driver.

MDT can also create installation media for DVD or USB installations, or the images can be used with Windows Deployment Services (WDS)or System Center Configuration Manager (Config Manager) to allow network deployments through PXE booting.

Disk partitioning and formatting can also be done within MDT, so a separate script is not needed.

These two videos will show you the power and flexibilityof MDT, and help you to setup your environment:

Deployment Day Session 1: Introduction to MDT 2012

Deployment Day Session 2: MDT 2012 Advanced

Lastly, more information about deploying Windows 7 with MDT, WDS, and Config Manager can be found on the Deliver and Deploy Windows 7 page of the Springboard Series on TechNet.

Hope this helps,


David

Windows Outreach Team – IT Pro


This post has been edited by WinOutreach4: 20 December 2012 - 12:09 PM


#6 User is offline   gustavo21 

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Posted 20 December 2012 - 02:28 PM

View PostTripredacus, on 18 December 2012 - 09:07 AM, said:

Is there a specific reason why you don't use Diskpart to format the partition? :unsure:


Just because is the same. I have to enter in diskpart and exit anyway. At first i included format in diskpart script, and one day, when i made a menu, i just wrote the script in that way...

#7 User is offline   Tomorrow 

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Posted 09 January 2013 - 12:22 AM

View Postgustavo21, on 14 December 2012 - 12:17 PM, said:

Hello. First you have to customize your windows 7, in audit mode.

- Install new fresh OS.
- Execute C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep /audit
- When restart delete the user you had done (Only Administrator User left)
- Install Updates, customize, install drivers, etc.
- Generate an unattend.xml file for unattend the sysprep process and ser copyprofile=true. (if you need help with this just ask)
- Execute C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep /oobe /generalize /quit /unattend:unattend.xml
- Restart with WinPE
- Run Imagex /capture /compress fast c: c:\windows7.wim "Windows 7 Ultimate" (or whatever)


Worked for me. I had trouble before. Captured with GimageX on another windows install. Just had to get the description and wim name right so that ei.cfg would work as expected.


#8 User is offline   cdob 

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Posted 09 January 2013 - 04:18 PM

Add flags at imagex too

ImageX Command-Line Options

Quote

Specifies the version of Windows you are about to capture. The /flags value is required if you are going to re-deploy a custom Install.wim with Windows Setup.


#9 User is offline   Tomorrow 

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Posted 10 January 2013 - 12:09 AM

View Postcdob, on 09 January 2013 - 04:18 PM, said:

Add flags at imagex too

ImageX Command-Line Options

Quote

Specifies the version of Windows you are about to capture. The /flags value is required if you are going to re-deploy a custom Install.wim with Windows Setup.


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